Islanders vs. Canadiens: Bad night made worse by Johnny Boychuk injury

If you thought the New York Islanders 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday was bad, hold on to your hat because the 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens was worse.

It couldn’t get worse after a lackluster effort against the Boston Bruins for the New York Islanders, right? To help the Isles the struggling and out of the playoff picture Montreal Canadiens were going to Brooklyn.

It was the perfect opportunity for the Isles to get two points and try to distance themselves from some of the other teams around them in the Metropolitan Division.

All they needed to do was put in a full effort. Do the simple things well. Get to pucks first. Win battles along the boards. And more importantly, get shots on net. They did none of that and got burned for it by a score of 6-2.

How?

The Boston game was Saturday. Today was today. As soon as the Islandesr hit the ice we’re supposed to forget the woes of the previous game. Or at least the Islanders are supposed to make us forget by putting in a performance.

The Islanders got outworked right from the start. In five minutes at the end of the first period, the Habs scored three straight. That made it eight straight goals against since the Isles lost in OT against the Blues on February 27.

It was déjà-vu from the Boston game all over again. Although instead of losing the game in the first ten minutes they lost it in the second ten minutes.

How does that happen? How is this team so inept both offensively and now defensively?

Things would just get worse with a short-handed goal against to make it 4-0, the 1,000th odd-man rush was converted by Jordan Weal to make it 5-1, and finally an empty-net short-handed goal by Joel Armia to make it 6-2.

Oh, yes. Between the gluttony of goal-scoring by the Habsm the Islanders scored twice thanks to Brock Nelson poking home the easiest goal of his career and Ryan Pulock sliding in a PPG on a 5on3.

Again. How is this happening? Because Adam Pelech and Casey Cizikas are out with an injury? Unacceptable.

There are no words to describe the way this team is playing at the moment. Trotz has seemingly done all he can with this roster and it just isn’t working much to his obvious chagrin.

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Hope Boychuk is OK

As if things couldn’t get worse. Johnny Boychuk left the game in the third period after taking a skate to the face.

I’m not going to link to a GIF. Showing that type of injury isn’t something I like doing. Just suffice to say that Boychuk went straight down the tunnel clutching his face. It was scary. Hopefully, he’s OK.